Great Literature

Philip Pirrip, also known as Pip, a blacksmith’s apprentice in a country village, falls in love with Estella, the beautiful but cold-hearted daughter of eccentric Miss Havisham, a wealthy woman who lives in seclusion. He becomes motivated and aspires to become a gentleman to win her affection. His hopes are fueled when he receives a large and mysterious inheritance from a mysterious benefactor, this sets off a chain of events that will change his life.

Daisy Finnegan is looking forward to the endless golden freedom of summer. No more college, no more pressure, no more worries. But when her cousin goes missing at an exclusive house party, Daisy is all too ready to confront the mysterious host…only to discover the wealthy recluse is Jay Gatsby, her childhood sweetheart—now sinfully hot and impossible to deny.

Ten-year-old Pearl Spence is a daydreamer, playing make-believe to escape life in Oklahoma's Dust Bowl in 1935. The Spences have their share of misfortune, but as the sheriff's family, they've got more than most in this dry, desolate place. They're who the town turns to when there's a crisis or a need. Pearl is proud of her loving, strong family, though she often wearies of tracking down her mentally impaired older sister or wrestling with her grandmother's unshakable belief in a God. Then a mysterious man bent on revenge tramps into her town of Red River.

When Kyle and Mia discover three abandoned kittens, they know they have to help. Kyle and Mia take turns caring for the kittens, but they both already have pets of their own. Will they be able to find the perfect home for the kittens they've come to love?

Sixteen-year-old Jennifer Strange and her sidekick and fellow orphan Tiger Prawns have been driven to the tip of the UnUnited Kingdoms - Cornwall - by the invasion of the Trolls. Their one defence is a six-foot-wide trench full of buttons, something which the Trolls find unaccountably terrifying (it's their clickiness). Worse than being eaten by Trolls is the prospect of the Mighty Shandar requisitioning the Quarkbeast and using him to achieve supreme power and domination.

This collection of wonderful stories read by John Lavelle and penned by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat will find a place on any Nate the Great fan's bookshelf.

At the end of The King’s Witch, the first book in Tracy Borman’s Stuart-era trilogy, Frances Gorges was pregnant with the child of her dead lover, Thomas Wintour, executed for his role as a conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Now, in The Devil’s Slave, Frances is compelled to return to the dissolute and dangerous court where she has been suspected of witchcraft.

Beobrand is besieged in the action-packed instalment in the Bernicia Chronicles set in AD 647 Anglo-Saxon Britain. War hangs heavy in the hot summer air as Penda of Mercia and his allies march into the north. Caught unawares, the Bernician forces are besieged within the great fortress of Bebbanburg. It falls to Beobrand to mount the defence of the stronghold, but even while the battle rages, old and powerful enemies have mobilised against him, seeking vengeance for past events.

Now a major motion picture directed by Stephen Frears ( The Queen, High Fidelity) and starring Judi Dench ( Skyfall, Notes on a Scandal) and Steve Coogan ( The Trip, Hamlet 2): the heartbreaking true story of an Irishwoman and the secret she kept for 50 years. When she became pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena Lee was sent to a convent to be looked after as a "fallen woman". Then the nuns took her baby from her and sold him, like thousands of others, to America for adoption. Fifty years later, Philomena decided to find him.

Butterbean is bored. She and the other pets pulled off a heist once, but that was like a million years ago. Nothing exciting has happened since then. That is, until Mrs. Third Floor shows up at their apartment, convinced there's a ghost in the building. Mrs. Third Floor's rental unit is showing signs of paranormal activity—eerie noises, objects moving when no one is there, fish disappearing from the tank overnight. The pets decide to investigate. Soon they're confronted with a bigger problem than just ghosts: professional ghost hunters who are offering to drive out the spirits for a hefty fee.

Decadent dessert designer Summer Lyndon is celebrated around the world for sharing her creations with the wealthy and celebrity sets. So she is intrigued when Blake Cocharan—a respected chef renowned for his cordon bleu—taps her to spend the summer in the restaurant of his luxury Philadelphia hotel to give his menu a makeover. Taking a break from her travels will be just as challenging at developing delectable cuisines, but Summer never expected working so closely with Blake would mean losing her heart to him.

In this all-new very special miniseries, the Aldens have been recruited by a secret society to return lost artifacts and treasures to their rightful locations - all around the world! The final leg of the Aldens' journey brings them to South America and to the Salt Flats in northern Argentina. But when they hit a dead end, they realize someone has tricked them in order to delay their plans! Returning to Buenos Aires, the Aldens connect with the Silvertons and are able to get back on track. But it is clear their rivals are closer than ever.

Dickens the Enchanter takes us deep into an imagination whose power and originality struck some contemporaries as godlike while others thought it demonic. If you already love Dickens, it will renew your understanding of him; if you have yet to experience him, it will lure you into his astonishing, alarming, enchanted world.

T.D. Jakes doesn't just preach to his listeners, he gives them the psychological and practical tools that they need to realize their faith in their lives. Clear-sighted, realistic, and spiritually uplifting, Making Great Decisions is one of those rare books that can change lives. "Remember," writes T.D. Jakes, "your tomorrow is no better than the decisions you make today."

Matt is inside Maggie's head, and their oddly dangerous frenemies are gone for the time being, but their troubles are only just beginning. Cyrilla is out of commission and some young witches are setting themselves up to be her successors...and courting Cole in the process. Which annoys Maggie, given that she's his girlfriend now.

Here are some of the finest narrative poems in the English language, dating from an age of rich inspiration.

From the strange case of 'The Red-Headed League' to the extraordinary tale of 'The Engineer's Thumb', Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr Watson grapple with treachery, murder and ingenious crimes of all kinds. But no case is too challenging for the immortal detective's unique power of deduction.

Cambridge, 1939. The opening weeks of the Second World War, and the first blackout - The Great Darkness - covers southern England, enveloping the city. Detective Inspector Eden Brooke, a wounded hero of the Great War, takes his nightly dip in the cool waters of the Cam. Daylight reveals a corpse on the riverside, the body torn apart by some unspeakable force.

The 200th anniversary of the birth of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809 - 1892), one of the most popular of poets, is celebrated in 2009. Works such as The Charge of the Light Brigade, Crossing the Bar and Tears, Idle Tears have made him an internationally famous figure, and the second most quoted writer of all time (after Shakespeare).

Elegant, enigmatic Jay Gatsby yearns for his old love, the beautiful Daisy. But she is married to the insensitive if hugely successful Tom Buchanan, who won’t let her go despite having a mistress himself. In their wealthy haven, these beguiling lives are brought together by the innocent and entranced narrator, Nick – until their decadent deceits spill into violence and tragedy. Part morality tale, part fairy tale, The Great Gatsby is the consummate novel of the Jazz Age. Its tenderness and poetry make it one of the great works of the 20th century.